{"id":344237,"date":"2024-03-12T10:10:26","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T09:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/03\/12\/negoziati-adesione-ue-bosnia-commissione\/"},"modified":"2024-03-14T15:32:38","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T14:32:38","slug":"eu-commission-gives-green-light-to-start-accession-negotiations-with-bosnia-and-herzegovina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/03\/12\/eu-commission-gives-green-light-to-start-accession-negotiations-with-bosnia-and-herzegovina\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Commission gives green light to start accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina"},"content":{"rendered":"

from the correspondent\u00a0in Strasbourg<\/em> – Now the light is fully green: “we will decide to recommend to the Council to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/strong>,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong> announced today (March 12) in her address to the plenary session of the European Parliament during the debate on the preparation of the March 21-22 European Council. “The message coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina is clear. So our message must be clear too. The future of Bosnia and Herzegovina lies in our Union,” she added.<\/p>\n

\"Ursula<\/a>
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (March 12, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the trip late in January<\/a> with the prime ministers of Croatia, Andrej Plenkovi\u0107<\/strong>, and the Netherlands,\u00a0Mark Rutte,<\/strong> the EU Commission chief\u00a0pushed the\u00a0Commission to work to present the report on Sarajevo’s steps since the December decision<\/a> at the last European Council to start accession negotiations “once the necessary degree of compliance with the accession criteria has been achieved.” Speaking to MEPs, von der Leyen anticipated the points of the report on Bosnian progress<\/strong>: “It is a factual analysis of the latest developments. And it draws a very clear picture. Since we granted candidate status [in December 2022, ed.<\/em>], Bosnia and Herzegovina has taken impressive steps forward,<\/span>” she said. In other words, “more progress has been achieved in just over a year than in over a decade<\/strong>,” the Commission’s number one assured, giving some examples.<\/p>\n

First, Bosnia and Herzegovina “first, Bosnia and Herzegovina has now fully aligned with our foreign and security policy, which is crucial in these times of geopolitical turmoil.<\/strong>” In addition, “the country is adopting important laws<\/strong>,” such as the prevention of conflict of interest, “which had stalled for seven\u00a0years,” and one on combating money laundering and terrorist financing. A reference was also made to migration management, which “continues to improve with negotiations on a Frontex agreement ready to begin after the Presidency endorsed\u00a0the negotiating framework<\/strong>.” Finally, the Bosnian Ministry of Justice “has agreed to include in the domestic criminal records the judgements of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia,” and “the new Peacebuilding Steering Committee has just become operational.” “More progress is needed to join our Union. But the country is showing that it can deliver on its membership criteria,<\/strong> and on its citizens’ aspiration to be part of our family<\/span>,”\u00a0President von der Leyen assures, passing the ball to the Council.<\/p>\n

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU accession path<\/h3>\n

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s journey towards the European Union began\u00a0on February 15, 2016, with the official submission of its membership application<\/strong>. For more than six years, no positive response came from\u00a0EU institutions\u00a0because of the country’s near-disastrous situation on the base conditions\u00a0(Copenaghen criteria<\/a>) for being considered a formal candidate. However, over the past two years, signs of confidence have intensified, especially from the EU executive and its president,\u00a0given\u00a0the risks of Russian destabilization<\/strong> of a very delicate country and region in the heart of Europe.<\/p>\n

The recommendation to the Council <\/strong>to grant Bosnia and Herzegovina candidate status for EU membership\u00a0<\/strong>arrived with the presentation of the 2022 Enlargement Package, accompanied by a particularly passionate speech in Sarajevo by von der Leyen during her trip to the Balkan capitals to announce the strong support from Brussels. After assessing the Commission’s opinion, the EU Leaders’ Summit on December 15, 2022, gave the green light to grant Bosnia and Herzegovina the status of candidate country for EU membership<\/strong> while emphasizing the need to implement crucial\u00a0reforms in the areas of the rule of law, fundamental rights, strengthening of democratic institutions, and public administration.<\/p>\n

After becoming the eighth candidate country for accession in the EU enlargement process, Bosnia and Herzegovina\u00a0continued to push on its path to the Union. Thanks to the (albeit limited) progress made by Brussels in the 2023 Enlargement Package,\u00a0the EU Commission decided to include a recommendation to the European Council to launch accession negotiations for Sarajevo “once the necessary degree of compliance with the accession criteria has been achieved.”<\/strong> In other words, there was a recommendation, but with a foregone conclusion that the leaders summit\u00a0would await new positive news on the front of the 14 priorities outlined by the Commission (of which only two\u00a0have been completed) to give a response.\u00a0 That’s how it went at the <\/a>last European Council in December, with the decision to start negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, without indicating an actual\u00a0start date<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Republika Srpska hurdle<\/h3>\n

Yet the path of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s rapprochement with the Union is made particularly difficult by the president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik<\/strong>, who has championed a secessionist project <\/strong>from October 2021. The goal is to remove itself from the control of the central state\u00a0in\u00a0key areas such as the military, tax system, and judiciary, more than 20 years after the end of the ethnic war in Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/strong>. The European Parliament has evoked economic sanctions. After the harsh condemnation conviction of secessionist attempts by the Serb-majority entity in Bosnia (with a bill to establish an autonomous High Judicial Council), Bosnian leaders gathered in Brussels in mid-June 2022 to sign\u00a0a charter\u00a0for stability and peace, focused primarily on electoral and constitutional reforms in the Balkan country<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Dodik<\/a><\/figure>\n

From left: Republika Srpska President, Milorad Dodik, and Russian autocrat, Vladimir Putin, at the Kremlin on May 23, 2023 (credits: Alexey Filippov \/ Sputnik \/ Afp)<\/p>\n

Concerns have become increasingly real since late March 2023, when the government of the Bosnian Serb entity presented\u00a0a draft law to establish a register of foreign-funded associations and foundations.\u00a0The so-called law on ‘foreign agents’\u00a0<\/span>is similar to the one adopted by Moscow in December 2022\u00a0<\/strong>and was approved in late September by the\u00a0National Assembly in Banja Luka amid sharp criticism from Brussels.<\/span> In parallel, the process of adopting amendments to the Criminal Code reintroducing criminal penalties for defamation<\/strong> has also advanced. Following the proposal – also in late March – the law entered\u00a0into force on\u00a0August 18 and now provides for fines of 5,000 to 20,000 Bosnian marks (2,550 to 10,200 euros) if defamation occurs “through the press, radio, television, or other public media, during a public meeting, or otherwise.” The European External Action Service (EEAS) and the EU delegation in Sarajevo attacked Banja Luka, highlighting that the two laws “have <\/strong>had a frightening effect on freedom of speech in Republika Srpska<\/strong>.”<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the secessionist provocations, there is the issue of the relationship with Russia after it invaded Ukraine.\u00a0As early as September 20, 2022, Dodik\u00a0traveled to Moscow for a bilateral meeting with Putin after \u200bprovoking\u00a0Western partners about the illegal annexation of Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions. Provocations that continued at the beginning of January 2023\u00a0\u200bwith the award to the Russian autocrat the Order of Republika Srpska<\/strong> (the highest honor of the Serb-majority entity in the Balkan country) – in recognition of “patriotic concern and love” toward Banja Luka’s demands – on the occasion of the National\u00a0Republika Srpska Day, an unconstitutional holiday under Bosnian law. As if that were enough, Dodik went on a second trip to Moscow on May 23, while in Brussels, misgivings emerged about the Union’s failure to respond with sanctions. EU sources revealed to Eunews<\/em> that a framework of restrictive measures has existed for some time now ready to be implemented<\/strong>, but Viktor Orb\u00e1n’s Hungary is\u00a0not giving\u00a0the green light<\/strong>. Any such foreign policy action requires unanimity in the Council.<\/p>\n

\n

Find more insights on the Balkan region in the BarBalkans newsletter<\/a> hosted by Eunews<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Ursula von der Leyen made the announcement in her address to the plenary session of the European Parliament, highlighting Sarajevo’s “impressive steps” over the past year. The issue will be on the table of the European Council on March 21-22, which is expected to give final approval with a view to establishing negotiating frameworks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5647,"featured_media":273072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[25747,26007,26492,25836,25834],"class_list":["post-344237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-accession-ue-bosnia-en","tag-bosnia-ed-erzegovina-en","tag-eu-enlargement-en","tag-european-council-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5647"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344237"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":345345,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344237\/revisions\/345345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}